Tom Waits Releases New Video For “Hell Broke Luce”

Many fans of Tom Waits were hoping that the cryptic photos that pointed to the date August 7th would lead to a tour announcement. Many even thought it was going to be some sort of cruise featuring Tom Waits playing live on the boat. When the day finally came, the announcement was not a tour nor a Tom Waits cruise, it was a music video for “Hell Broke Luce.”

The song appears on Waits last LP, Bad As Me. The video, a four-minute masterpiece was directed and conceived by Matt Mahurin, is already gaining much praise. The video is a mean, gritty, and fantastic view of war and Waits does not hold back. The song is hard and the visuals in the video fit so well to Waits raspy voice, intense lyrics, and a relentless melody. It’s a perfect marriage.

Waits talked about the video and powerful visuals behind it.

“Matt Mahurin has created an apocalyptic war dream to accompany the song ‘Hell Broke Luce.’ Kathleen [Brennan] and I envisioned it as an enlightened drill sergeant yelling the hard truths of war to a brand new batch of recruits. The video grew from the gnawing image of a soldier pulling his home, through a battlefield, at the end of a rope.”